Material-piling device.



F. E. HEFFERNAN.

MATERIAL FILING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED IAN. II, 1915.

Patented om. 31, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

Patented Oct. 31, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 "Leccese,

UNTTED STATES PATENT oEEi'cE.

i Toall rwhom it may concern tion.

'My invention relates to material piling devices and has for itsprincipal objects;

Y to provide adjustable, conveying, elevating,

sorting, distributing and placing means for piling lumber'or similarmaterial which is `manufactured in various lengths;-to provide automaticmeans for Spacing the various pieces of lumber, of the same length,

f evenly upon thepile and means for withldrawing rsaid spacers sothattheymay be in thev appended claim.

uritf I"ig. 2 is a plan view ofthe elevating vconveyer. Fig. 3 is. anenlarged end elevaiio'n of the distributing unit. vFig. 4 is allenlarged plan View. of the ,distributing unit with parts broken away.Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the spacing means. Fig. V6isapart .front elevation of in 'thedrawiiigs letter A represents anelevating conveyer, B a conveying, distrib-- utmg and piling unit ofwhich there mayA be anyconvenient number gained end t o end andsupported by' towers C.

' Inconveyerm numeral 1 designa-tes sidesv supported by shaftsflmand 1bon which are l `mouuted rollersl 2, with sprocket wheels 3 45; between.-An endless chain belt 4 is driven by sprockets 3 and supports crosspieces 5.

"The shafts 1a 'and 1b have pulleys 6,6 and 7 and 7a respectively`attached to them as' shown in Figs. 1 'and 2. Shaft 1b 1s mounted vinbearing blocks 8 which are in turn mount-- ed lupon a turn table 8acarried upon a truck 9 'upon which 'ismolnted a dynamo 10 or otherSource of power. *The truck is pro- 'vidednwith wheels' 9' which areadaptable to run on eitherrailsor the ground. It is thus seen that' theconveyer A may be moved about ou its truck when not in operation.

Specification of Letters Patent.

FRANK E. HEFFERNAN, OF FAIRFAX, WASHINGTON.

, vlammerenminnaar EvIcE.

raieateaoet. 31, 191e,

Application filed January 11, 1915. Serial No. 1,551.

Sides 1 of the conveyor are provided with rigid exteusionhoolrs 1c whichare adaptable to hook over shaft' l'l of the distributing unit B., Beltl2 drives the shaft 1"l from mo-` tor l0 and lbelt 13 drives pulley 6from pulley 7 while a pulley ll on distributor `B is driven from pulleyt3" by a belt orchain l5. Towers C are composed of uprights 1G, bases17, head blocks 1B andl brace mem bers 19 and 19. To brace members 1l)are secured vertical racks 20. llead blocks 18 support sheave Wheelsf21and 2l which in turn support a line 22 passing over similar wheels 23 ondistributing conveyer B and down the side oftower C to a fastening cleat(uot,sliown).. .c

'lhe function' of the. sheaves and line is to provide means for raisingand lowering conveyer l5 each end of which is supported be tween thelegs of tower U as shown in Fic.

3. kCouveyer distribu-ter B is composed of side members 24 havingdepressedportions 25 and 2dr-the latter being tied together by ladaptedto engage the teeth of racks 20.

Counterweights 28 assist in normally hold- -ing the pawls in engagement,while a trip line '29 serves to release the` pawls when a pull issprockets on shafts 11 over all the olhlr sprockets 32. thereby keepingall of the rollers in uniform motion. A strip 33 runs above sprockets 32and is supported at its ends b v uprights 3l. Strut members 35 Aand 35are secured to side frames 24- andserve to support a shaft 36 on eachend of which is secured a crank arm Shaft 36 is driven b v a chain 3Srunning overa sprocket 39 on saidy shaft and a similar Sprocket on theshaft 30 which is located directly above sprocket 39. Secured to pinslon cranks 37 are ends of connecting),- rods '40. the other ends beingylooselv secured 'to reciprocating Ipush bars ll'which operate back andforth 35 and are provided with yokes 13 at their ft. lengths would besent forward to the Vthe, commereial lengths of boards vary 'A and n',the

forward ends. ln said yokes'are re\"olubl\" mounted rollers` 4.4 uponshafts 45. llinged to the other ends of beams 42 are opstanding bumpers4t. whose upper ends normally are below the level' of the tops ofrollers fil. Normally. rollers 44.standsomewhat higher than roller.` 251as shown in 23. i4 and their respeetire bumpers 4t', are lot'ated at a1rtaletermined listam'e apartl .so that when a board or timber of theproper length is moving along on the rollers of the distributing andeonreytng unit lr. thev weight oi' the said board holds roller4l in adepressed position and thereby raises the bumper 46 by means oi thetilting of beam 4:! about its support. when the tol-ward end oi theboard strikes the bumper 4U, the. said bumper is pushed forward asutiieient distance to aetuate attaehed rods 4T. 4S and lil \\'hieh tqerate levers 5t) whieh are pivoted to strip 553 as shown in Fig. 4.yl`his operation or pulling forward, from under strip 253 of the freeends of levers 5U shores board oii' from the rollers upon the guides 51.spring 52 returns` levers 5U to normal position. It the board had beenshorter than the distauee between roller 44 and its respeetire bumper4t), the rear end of said boardwmild have rolled oii' of rollers 44before the forward end struck bumper 46 thereby allowing time for saidbumper toI drop down to normal position and thus raise roller 44. Itwill be understood that by approximately two feetV The roller 44, bumper46, levers 50 and connecting rods are shown in position as discharging aboard from the roller on the lower side of unit B as shown in Fig. 4.The upper side of unit B is silnilariy equipped with levers 50. rods47,43, 4t) and spring wlneh are. not

shown. It` will be noted that the bumper 46 on the upper side of unit Bisloeated farther forward vthan that on the lower side, a. distance ofapproximately two feet. Therefore, the said upper side is equipped toselect a greater length of lumber than the lower. side. l

The various units B are arranged so that the two larger lengths ofboards are discharged from the first unit while the. shorter .ones passon to subsequent units which con-A tinue to select the longest 'boardsavailable and` to pass the shorteones on to the next unit; that is ifthe longest boards were 24 y feet long the. next would be 22 feet and soon, decreasing by two feet at a time 'and the 24 feet, 2O and 16 'feetboards would be sent forward to the upper side of units longest lengthsbeing selected by the first unitB and theQ'ftlengths b v the second unitB. rThe 22 ft. i8 ft. and 14 lower side of said units and be lected inthe same order, enough umts B ing protheA vided to select and dischargetherefrom all lergths of boards being handled and stacked. (`ross barsare secured tothe top of strip one at either end of the board to bedischarged. '()neaeh end of a bar 53 is piroteda spacer bar 54 which hasan outstanding leg 54 which' is adapted to lie horizontallr laeross thetop of a pile of lumber l). Sparers .'5 haring spare lugs 5V are'adapted to slide along bars feedingapparatus is attarhed to the spaeery The ola-ration of the feed apparatus is as follows: 'l`he bar 54 is soloeated that when a board til as in Fig. 5 slides down guidesf it willstrike a spaeer whieh is heldin the bend of bar 54 b r the springend 59of spring member 5T'. As the boardstrikes the spacer. it eat-ries italong bar 54 springing the spring member outwardly which mores pin` 5Sout so as to allow another spacer todro torward. At the same time theend of chee bar 60 is ldrawn inward and prevents the other spaeers vfromhopping down bar 54.

i When the board 61 has mored out beyond the end of push bar 41 and hasdropped into piling.. strip 6i. the push bar 41 is operated aspreviouslydescribed. thereby pushing the boards out upon thepile D as 1sshown in Fig. 5. hen the tier of boards on the pile hare been shoved outuntil they cover the width `of said pile, an operator.rases the spacerhar 54 about its pivot point and shores the spae'ers 55 back along. thebar above the spring member 57. f; y

ll`he general operation of my invention is asfollows: When the units Aand B are set in motion bv motor 10,. the saidunits being driven one romanother by connecting belts y 11n and the units B being at the propereletmber is placed upon the conveyer unit A.

The proper lengths of'lnmber are placedy upon the proper side ofsaidconveyer A, which raises and deposits the lumbery upon the firstunit l which sorts out the longer'.

lengths 'as previously described, the shorter lengths passing on to thesubsequent units B upon w ich they are further sorted and.y

The line 22 may be either pnl ed by hand nr t los

ration in relation to the piles of lumber D,

described.V

or by motor 10. the various unitsA, B and un j claim as new and desireto protect by Let- C may be used as shown in any desirable multiples andmay be easily moved from place toplace as desired.

While I. have shown a particular form of embodiment of my invention, Iam aware that many minor changestherein Will readily suggest themselvesto others skilled in the art, without dee erting from the spirit andscope of the in rntion, and I therefore desire to avoid'beieg limited tothe exact form shown and described, except as defined in the appendedClaim.

Having described my invention, what I ters Patent, is-

In a device of the class described, the combination of sortin anddistributing means,

said means inclu ing apivotally mounte ed beam,` a bumper pivotallymounted on one end of said beam, an idler roller revolublylseured to theother end of said beam,

the said roller. normally projecting above the level of the conveyingsurface of the conveyer and the said bumper Wholly below said i surface,whereby when a piece of material which is bein? conveyed strikes theroller, the weight o the material depresses the roller and raises thebumper within the path 'of the said material and when the material is ofa length greater than the distance between the roller and the bumper,the said material is arrested by said bumper; and pivoted leversoperated by the energy of the moving piece of material striking the saidbumper which eject vthe said material laterally from the conveyer.

y FRANK E. HEFFERNAN. Witnesses:

C. H. SMITH,

FRED W. BURGEsoN.

